tongue against the sock in his mouth, and it moved a bit. He kept his eyes locked on hers, breathing hard through his nose.
“David,” Hilary said, “what happened the other night… was a mistake. I was weak, and you took advantage of that.” Her voice was flat, distant.
She ground down on her words. “It’s your fault this is happening now. You need to learn your place.” She looked off into the darkness as her voice failed her. “All you Scraps need to learn your place.” Barely a whisper now.
“This school belongs to Varsity.”
David worked his tongue against the sock in his mouth. His whole gang was just on the other side of that curtain, only a few stairs away. He screamed, but it was too muffled for them to hear. David kicked and thrashed his legs, but the Pretty Ones held fast.
Hilary held out a shaky hand, and one of her girls placed a slender ivory comb in it. She turned it in her fingers to reveal that the handle had been whittled into a sharp dagger.
Hilary looked out to the darkness again and shivered.
“Do it,” said a whisper from the dark.
Oh, God… Sam. He was here.
Hilary clamped her eyes shut.
David shook his head violently at her. The Pretty One above him held tight to his head. He pushed and pushed with his tongue, edging the sock out.
“Do it, baby,” said the whisperer from the dark.
A drop of water fell on his face. Then another. They were tears, dropping from Hilary’s chin.
Hilary lifted the dagger high, and her beautiful face twisted into something tormented and ugly. David screamed, and some of his voice escaped.
Someone threw aside the curtains and burst into the room.
Light from the stairwell spilled in. David’s heart soared.
It was Will.
He had a look on his face. It was pure rage. He must have heard the scream. He looked ready to fight, but then he froze, dumbfounded by the scene.
For just a second, David and Will locked eyes. Then Will had a seizure. He dropped on his stomach, his shuddering face landing inches from David’s. David could hear the sputter of his gurgling throat. David looked back to Hilary.
She jammed her dagger into his eye.
27
Agony. It was all David knew for an eternity. Pain knifed through his eye, it twisted and scraped inside his skull so relentlessly that it felt like Hilary was still over him, rattling her ivory shank in his eye socket. David swung in the dark to knock her away, but it never changed anything.
Pain permeated his dreams too, making it impossible to know for sure when he was awake and when he wasn’t. He could sense that people were trying to help him. He heard words of consolation, but they were unintelligible through the throbbing haze.
In time, pain didn’t consume him anymore. He slept more restfully. He’d only awaken for moments before fading to sleep again.
“You had a fever from an infection,” Lucy said softly, holding his hand, “You’re doing well now, David.” She returned to reading a book aloud. It was rhythmic and soothing. There was talk of picnics and sunshine. Her voice faded away.
He came to later. Lucy’s voice came from a different direction.
“Oh, my God,” she said. “You’re not going to believe this, but I was really jealous of Dorothy. All those gifts she gave you? I actually tried to draw a picture of you one night. You should have seen it, it was horrible. Wow, I hope you’re not listening to any of this.”
He was, sort of, but he drifted away again.
“If your jaw hurts, it’s ’cause I had to knock you out, you were thrashing and yelling so bad,” Gonzalo said, chuckling.
“You almost took that Nerd’s head off when he was operating on you. Jeezus, it was crazy.”
David tried to laugh, but he fell asleep instead.
She took my eye. That’s all David could think.
He was conscious again. He reached up and dared to feel his right eye for the first time. His fingers grazed the crusty gauze.
She took my eye, David thought again. We were a couple. My mom made her dinner twice a week. I loved her once. And she took my eye out!
He gnashed his teeth together. He was angry now. No matter how many times he thought it, it never seemed acceptable. She could have killed him if she wanted to, but no, she wanted to shame him. Scar him. Make him look weak.
Sam made her. Sam wanted all of those things, and he scared Hilary into doing it. He made her feel like she had no choice.
But she did have a choice.
David had asked her to join the Loners, leave the Pretty Ones behind. He would have protected her. She wouldn’t do it.
She wouldn’t let go of the power. David knew then that Hilary never loved him.
No one would ever mutilate someone they loved.
The rage within David felt good. It dampened the fire in his eye. He turned revenge scenarios over in his head, lying on his side, staring at his room with his one good eye. Dull light seeped through the curtain.
His room had been rearranged. A first-aid kit, bottles of water, rags, and a pile of books sat on the floor, next to his bed. A pillow lay scrunched into the corner. That was where Lucy sat when she read to him and kept him company.
She’d talked about episodes from her childhood, things about her family, random thoughts about life. One time, he remembered her singing softly to him. Some kind of folk song or something. He couldn’t remember the chorus, but her voice had been so sweet and lulling.
David’s mind traveled to the night of the Geek show. It seemed like a dream.
Lucy entered in the half-light, stepping quietly around the room so she wouldn’t disturb him.
“I’m awake,” David said.
Lucy sat down on the bed beside David.
“I need to change your bandage.”
“Okay.”
She peeled the tape away from his face. With a damp cotton ball she gently dabbed below his eye to clean the area. David kept his good eye to the ground. He felt ashamed. How could she look at it? It had to be vile.
“It looks a lot better,” she said.
David stayed silent as Lucy unwrapped a new bandage, then used a pair of scissors to cut it into a much smaller shape.
“Thank you for treating me so well,” David said.
He looked up at her. Lucy was right there, her eyes big and loving. He missed her, even though she’d been right next to him day after day. He felt like precious moments had been stolen from them. He took her hand and held it tight. Her eyes glistened with wetness. Tears threatened to tumble out from his eyes as well. It hurt.
“I wasn’t going to lose you,” Lucy said. “I swore I wouldn’t.” David was overcome by her devotion. He was lucky to have her.
“How long have I been out?”
“Almost three weeks.”
